Pneumatic tire.



No. 889,069. I PATENTED MAY 26 1908. c. E. TITUS.

PNEUMATIC TIRE. :ABBLIOATION FILED JUNE 21, 1907.

I A- hf d 5 if mtewfwf I matic Tires, of which the following is a specification.

- wear thereof, es well as preventing fpuncturng and overcoming any liability o skidding or side'sli UNITED sTATEs IAEJENT OFFICE.

-- enigma E. TI'rUs. or SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS. v

. rNEU A'rIc TIRE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Maj 26, 190s.

- Application filed June 21, 1907.! Serial No. 380,] .36.

To a ll whom it may'concerni l v I Bet known that I, CHARLES E. Trrusf a citize 1 of the. United States, residing at Springfie1d;i n-the county of, Hamp'den and State of Massachusetts, have invented. oer-- tain. new and useful Improvements. in Pneu- This invention relates to pneumatic or 011Sl11011 tires forvehicles, In which the .pro-" 'pelling force is ap liedldirectly from. the

axleto the tread 0 the wheel; and the object'thereof is .to provide atire with means, as hereinafter set forth, which acts as an armor for the tread of the tire, thereby reducing the the tire .With the foregomg. and other objects in view,'the invention consists of the novel con-. struction' and arrangement oftread elements with respect tothe tire cover as hereinafter .more specificallydescribed and Illustrated.

' In the accompanying drawings wherein 1s shown the preferred embodiment of the inVen tion,'but it is to he understood that changes,

" Variations-and modifications can be resorted toiwhich come within the scope of the claims I hereunto appended.

'Inthe drawings wherein like characters denote like partsv throughout. the several vviews liigure 1 isa cross section of a tire cover w th. the tread elements connected thereto to constitute an armor for the cover; Fig. 2 is a plan Fig. 3 is a sectional trating the tread reinforcing members; Figs".

5 and 6 illustrate, respectively, modified forms of tread nails, and, Fig. 7 illustrates a perspective view of-a modified form of treadreinforcing member. I I i I Referring to the drawings by reference characters, the armor for the cover 1 of the tireis formed of a series of overlapping and interlockingtread reinforcing members each of which is secured to the cover through they medium of a tread nail; Each ofthetread members whiehformthe central part of the armor and are indicated 'by the reference character 2, is formed from'a short piece of metallic material of greater length-than width and" is substantially elliptical in longitudinal section with the lower face near each "end thereof formed with a 'traversely eXtending inner end a' washer 6.

washer upon the shank and recess. .These recesses areindicated by the- .receive,'as shown in Fig. .1, the rounded head 5 of a. treadnail, the shank'of which extends through the coverl and has mounted on its The inner :end of the sunk opening is providedwhich is adapted to shank is upset, at at 7, thereby securing the preventing the 1 withdrawal of the tread nar through the cover.

stantially hexagonal in contour.

bers 2 and adapted to engage with the said The tread members 2 in plan-are sub- 7 members are the tread members 8.9, each ofwh'ich is substantially elliptical in longitudinal section and has one end formed with .a ridge 10, which are adapted to engage in the recesses formed. in the lower face of the members 2. 3 The ridges 10 are not as wide as the recesses in the members 2 so as to allowfor play of the members 89 whenoccasion" I so requires. members 9 .is provided with a countersunk The upper face of each of the .80 portion 1 l and a countersunk opening 12. In 9 [close proximity to the tapered end 13 is formed with a transversely extending recess 14. v The members 8 as well as the members 9 are so disposed with respect to the members 2 that a pair ofmembers 2 will be mounted upon a member 8 and a member 9; or inother words the ridge 1070f amember 8 will i 'eXtend-into-the recesses 8 of a pair of members I2 and thesame arrangement is had with the members 9 with respect to the members 2. At one side of the members Sis arrangeda -.series "oimembers l5'and at one side of the arrangement of the members 8 with respectto the members 15 is the/same as that of themembersS witli res'pect to the members 2 here 16 With respect to the memb'ersy9g 1 and the same arrangement is had of the mem- "At one side of the members 15 and 1.6".is ar ranged the members 17 eachflof which'issubone end formed with an n war'dly-extending ridge as at 18, the upper ace formed with a countersunk portion 19 and further provided with a countersunk o 'ening in which is mounted the rounde head 5 of the tread nail. The members 15, 16 and 17 are se cured to the cover in the same manner as the members 2, 8 and 9 and the arrangement of the members 17 with respect to the members 15 and 16 is the same as that of the members 8 and 9 with respect to the members 2.

In Fig. 3 is shown a modified manner of connecting the shank 21 of the treadnail to the cover and such arrangement consists in bendingthe inner end of the shank 21 so as to extend around the stay piece 22 and project into the inner face of the cover as at 23.

In Figs. 5 and 6 modified forms of tread nails are shown and in this connection it will be stated that in Fig. 5 the tread nail is shown as provided with a conical shaped head 24 and in Fig. 6 with a truncated cone-shaped head 25. These nails can. be used in lieu of the round head nails shown in Fig. 1. I

In lieu of providing the tread members or elements with a counter-sunk portion they can be constructed in a manner as shown in Fig. 7, and in this connection it will be stated that the upper face of the tread element or member, besides being provided with a countar-sunk opening 26, is also provided with a groove 27, which is arranged along a part of eachlongitudinaledge of the element or member and also extends diagonally across the upper face thereof as at 28. Otherwise than as stated the tread element or member 29 shown in Fig. 7 is the same as thetread elements or members hereinbefore referred to. The construction of tread element or member shown in Fig. 7 providesv for additional metal below the countersunk opening 27 for the tread nail, consequentlyv increasing the strength of the element or member.

, When the tread elements or members are secured to the cover by the tread nails the nails are entered into andthrough the cover without the cutting away thereof, which is quite an advantage, for the reason that the cover is not weakened. In certain the treads made offmetallic material, when ap plying them, a portion of the cover is cut away, consequently weakening it; whereas in accordance with this invention the tread nails pierce the tire and do not cutout or take away any material when applied. After the nails have been passed through the cover the inner end is cut off and the stub end headed or u set against a washer which connects the na to tlie cover.

The interlbcking. of the tread members i with each other prevents the outer rows of tread memb rs from tearing out if the tire should ride hard on a stone, bringing the The projecting heads of the tread nails act 7 as a means to, prevent skidding or slipping and furthermore the curved sides of, the members tend to slue obstructions ofi the members during the'travel of the wheel. It will also be evident that owing to the disposition of the metallic tread membersthe tread of the tire is preventedfrom being punctured and wear is materially reduced thereby increasing the life of the tire.

What I claim is 1. A tire reinforcement comprising a plu-' rality of overlapping and interengaging tread members connected to the periphery of the tire and having the central portion of its lower face constituting a fulcrum.

2. A tire reinforcement embodying a tread member substantially elliptical in longitudinal section and provided at one end with a ridge and in its .lower face with a transversely-extending recess.

3. A tire reinforcement embodying a tread member substantially elliptical in longitu dinal section and provided at one end with a ridge and in its lower face with a transverselyextending recess, said member further provided with a countersunk portion and a countersunk recess in its upper-face.

4. A tire reinforcement embodying a tread member substantially elliptical in longitudinal section and provided at one end with a ridge and in its lower face with a transverselyextending recess, said member further provided with a countersunk portion and a countersunk recess in its upper face, combined with a tread nail for securing said mem her in position, said nail having an enlarged head projecting from the member and seated in said countersunk opening."

5. 1 A tire reinforcement embodying a tread member substantially elliptical in longitudinal section and having its lower face r0- vided with a pair of transversely-exten ing recesses.

6. A tire reinforcement embodying a tread member substantially rectangular in contour, 1 15 elliptical in longitudinal section and-having one end formed with an upwardly-extending ridge.

7. A tire reinforcement embodying a tread member substantially rectangular in contour, elliptical in longitudinal section and having one end formed with an upwardly extending ridge, said member further having a countersunk portion and a countersunk opening in itsupper face.

8. A tire reinforcement embodying a tread member having the upper and lower faces thereof formed in a curvilinear manner, said member'having its upper face provided with a countersunk opening to receive the head 130 of a holdfast defice sink] further provided In fiestimohy' whereof I have hereunto sh t it1 an upwardly-extending ridge. I my hand ilI-PIGSGIICG of two subscribing wiL 9; A tire reinforcement emliod-yinga tread nesse s. v

member having a curved upper. and lower CHARLES E; TITUS.

5 face, theupperfa'cepf said member having a Witnesses: 3 e

countersunk .opemng gand lts' lower face I GEORGE HOWLETT, fon ned wlth a transversely-extendmg recess, H W. MANSFIELD. 

